Brothers Inspire Greatness While Helping Others with Special Needs

John and Christian Ciocca

John J. Ciocca could be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Like Zuckerberg’s Facebook, Ciocca created a social media network that targets a specific audience. And he found inspiration in his older brother, Christian.

Named, youBelong, it is an app for special needs individuals and their families to meet others. It works similar to Facebook where users post information and photos. You can make comments and promote social events. John J., 17, developed it to help Christian, who was born with Down Syndrome, make friends. “It’s a way to make connections,” said dad, John M. Ciocca, “a way to make playdates for kids with special needs.”

But this app was not John J.’s first attempt at computer coding, rather it was around No. 30. His app niche is one directed to others like Christian. Just 14 months apart in age, they were inseparable growing up. John J. took on the role as big brother, always watching out for Christian, making sure he was okay, offering assistance with toys and helping Christian learn new tasks, explained John M. “Having John that close together was a blessing for Christian,” said their father of the boys’ upbringing. “He took care of him [Christian] right from the start.”

A close family, John. M. is a kindergarten teacher at Three Oaks Elementary School in Estero and mom Maria is the executive director for Juniper Communities, an assisted living community in Naples. The boys attend Estero High School together. A job opportunity for Maria brought the family to Bonita Springs two years ago from Voorhees, N.J. It was at their shore home in Ocean City, N.J. where inspiration first struck John J. in 2012.

Bored and cooped up while his family slept, John J. picked up his computer and started playing around writing computer code. A self-proclaimed techie to the core, John J. spent that summer taking Code Academy classes, learning different technologies. “I played games on my phone and it seemed so cool if I could create one,” said the teen. That sparked a desire to learn all he could about computer coding. He spent more time working on apps. “It was a weekend project to build a game,” said John J., who shares a first name with his dad, but not a middle name that would have made him a “junior.”

The teen’s first major project was a dating app for special needs individuals that took about six months to construct, but it was plagued by issues. “He couldn’t really get the app to work properly,” said John M., “so he scrapped it.” As his skills grew, the Estero High junior wrote gaming apps and eventually created a money manager app, a to-do list app called BusyBee as well as other utility apps. All are sold through the App Store, but are only available on the Apple iOS. “There are about 30 apps in all,” said John M., who spends his off-school time marketing the family business, Ciocca Apps.

And it’s truly a family business. The three Ciocca males love brainstorming together, especially while enjoying a nightly dip in the family hot tub. “We bounce ideas off each other,” said John M., “to see what will work.” But it takes all three to find the recipe for app success. John M. is often the “idea man,” the one with the concept; John J. creates it, spending hours, days and months writing the computer code, and Christian normally is the inspiration. One example is MyVoice, an app that gives non-verbal individuals a way to communicate. It works like a large PECS [Picture Exchange Communication System] book but electronic. “That was the first big one he created that really worked right,” said John M., who encouraged his son to build the app after teaching special education in New Jersey for 10 years where he saw non-verbal students struggle to manage the large, bulky PECS books to communicate. “It’s a type-to-talk program … some schools [in the U.S. and abroad] are looking at it to load onto iPads.”

Though the boys fit in nicely at their new school, it was a struggle for Christian to connect with other people with special needs, explained John M. Back home in New Jersey, the family was very active in BUDS [Bringing Up Down Syndrome] but there isn’t a chapter in Southwest Florida. “There is nothing like that here,” said John M. “There’s Special Olympics, but that is centered around sports and once the season was over Christian was left without social connections.” That’s when the Ciocca’s formed a chapter of Fantastic Friends, a social group that hosts a monthly gathering which pairs a member with a volunteer, who helps facilitate interaction. “We set up a chapter here to help Chris meet friends,” said John M. It launched last November.

Building apps is really John J.’s passion, and he doesn’t really envision taking youBelong to the level that Facebook achieved. “We don’t really have the know-how to make it into the next Facebook,” said John M., pointing out the costs involved with maintaining youBeloing. “We could sell ads to generate revenue,” explained John M., noting their main desire is to have youBelong become well-known among the special needs community. “We’d love for someone to acquire it … to scale it to the next level.” Plus, they are working on another app that they are keeping secret right now.

The boys recently attended prom together, opting to take an Uber over a limo. Soon John J. will venture off to college to study computer engineering; he dreams of working at SpaceX as an engineer. Christian will walk with his graduating class this May, though he will likely return to Estero High for at least another year. If you ask Christian about his future, he enthusiastically replies, “I’m going to college too. Going with my brother.”

Leigh Tahirovic is a wife and mother who loves traveling and Civil War History. She moved to Naples in 2001 and began a career in journalism. She is a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers in South Florida.